Book 1 Chapter 1 of the Historical Geography of the Holy Land which is free for the rest of today and tomorrow as explained here

Book I:
The Land as a Whole

Chapter I:
The Place of Syria in the World's History

For this chapter consult Map II.

THE PLACE OF SYRIA IN THE WORLD'S HISTORY

Between the Arabian Desert and the eastern coast of the Levant there stretches—along almost the full extent of the latter, or for nearly 400 miles—a tract of fertile land varying from 70 to 100 miles in breadth. This is so broken up by mountain range and valley, that it has never all been brought under one native government; yet its well-defined boundaries—the sea on the west, Mount Taurus on the north, and the desert to east and south—give it a certain unity, and separate it from the rest of the world. It has rightly, therefore, been covered by one name, Syria. Like that of Palestine, the name is due to the Greeks, but by a reverse process. As 'Palestina' which is really Philistina, was first the name of only a part of the coast, and thence spread inland to the desert, so Syria, which is a shorter form of Assyria, was originally applied by the Greeks to the whole of the Assyrian Empire from the Caucasus to the Levant, then shrank to this side of the Euphrates, and finally within the limits drawn above. The Arabs call the country Esh-Sham, or 'The Left,' for it is really the northern or north-western end of the great Arabian Peninsula, of which they call the southern side El Yemen, or 'The Right.' The name Palaistiné, which Josephus himself uses only of Philistia, was employed by the Greeks to distinguish all Southern Syria, inclusive of Judæa, from Phœnicia and Cœle-Syria. They called it Syria Palaistiné, using the word as an adjective, and then Palaistiné, the noun alone. From this the Romans got their Palestina, which in the second century was a separate province, and later on divided into Palestina Prima, Secunda, Tertia. It still survives in the name of the Arab gund or canton—Filistin.
These were foreign names: the much older and native name Canaan is of doubtful origin, perhaps racial, but more probably geographical and meaning 'sunken' or 'low' land. It seems to have at first belonged to the Phœnician coast as distinguished from the hills above. But thence it extended to other lowlands—Sharon, the Jordan valley, and so over the whole country, mountain as well as plain.
The historical geography of Syria, so far as her relations with the rest of the world are concerned, may be summed up in a paragraph. Syria is the northern and most fertile end of the great Semitic home—the peninsula of Arabia. But the Semitic home is distinguished by its central position in geography—between Asia and Africa, and between the Indian Ocean and the Mediterranean, which is Europe; and the rôle in history of the Semitic race has been also intermediary. The Semites have been the great middlemen of the world. Not second-rate in war, they have risen to the first rank in commerce and religion. They have been the carriers between East and West, they have stood between the great ancient civilisations and those which go to make up the modern world; while by a higher gift, for which their conditions neither in place nor in time fully account, they have been mediary between God and man, and proved the religious teachers of the world, through whom have come its three highest faiths, its only universal religions. Syria's history is her share in this great function of intermedium, which has endured from the earliest times to the present day.
To put it more particularly, Syria lies between two continents—Asia and Africa; between two primeval homes of men—the valleys of the Euphrates and the Nile; between two great centres of empire—Western Asia and Egypt: between all these, representing the Eastern and ancient world, and the Mediterranean, which is the gateway to the Western and modern world. Syria has been likened to a bridge between Asia and Africa—a bridge with the desert on one side and the sea upon the other; and, in truth, all the great invasions of Syria, with two exceptions, have been delivered across her northern and southern ends. But these two exceptions—the invasions of Israel and Islam—prove the insufficiency of the bridge simile, not only because they were but the highest waves of an almost constant tide of immigration which has flowed upon Syria from Arabia, but because they represent that gift of religion to her, which in its influence on her history far exceeds the influence of her central position. Syria is not only the bridge between Asia and Africa: she is the refuge of the drifting populations of Arabia. She has been not only the highroad of civilisations and the battlefield of empires, but the pasture and the school of innumerable little tribes. She has been not merely an open channel of war and commerce for nearly the whole world, but the vantage-ground and opportunity of the world's highest religions. In this strange mingling of bridge and harbour, of highroad and field, of battleground and sanctuary, of seclusion and opportunity—rendered possible through the striking division of her surface into mountain and plain—lies all the secret of Syria's history, under the religion which has lifted her fame to glory. As to her western boundary, no invasion, save of hope, ever came over that. Even when the nations of Europe sought Palestine, their armies did not enter by her harbours till the coast was already in their possession. But across this coast she felt from the first her future to lie; her expectation went over the sea to isles and mainlands far beyond her horizon; and it was into the West that her spiritual empire—almost the only empire Syria ever knew—advanced upon its most glorious course.
Continue reading here:
George Adam Smith, The Historical Geography of the Holy Land: Especially in Relation to the History of Israel and of the Early Church, (London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1906), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 1-6.

If you have arrived at this post and the time to get the free book has expired, try this link for used copies of it.

For a treasure box of Spurgeon  here for audio and  here for books or audio Bible Study Material Free Shipping On Orders of $30 Or More (continental U.S., excludes digital products) Offer Expires 11:59pm on 08/31/2020 Take $2 off $30+ Coupon code: BACK Take $3 off $45+ Coupon code: SCHOOL Take $4 off $55+ Coupon code: AUGUST Take $2 off $30+ Coupon code: BACK Take $3 off $45+ Coupon code: SCHOOL Take $4 off $55+ Coupon code: AUGUST                                                          a fan of tubitv.com/category/faith and spirituality      also  tubitv.com/channels/dovechannel also Greek and Hebrew Tools on the Internet  Affiliate marketer links:  Affiliate marketer Rick Livermore with Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog will earn a commission on the Bible Study Material you buy from faith gateway store  and alibris.  Brought to you by  Rick Livermore  and  Webmaster220 Bible Study Blog    If you would like to offset my expenses of producing all this free content,  but you want to pass on buying  materials from faith gateway store and alibris,  feel free to give a little something-------Give through PayPal----- I live in San Juan Capistrano California now  also a fan of   94 FM The Fish Nashville also a fan of various The Fish stations all over the country The most important link on this blog is this one about cures to the coronavirus.  Landmark info about the treatment of severe cases of the COVID-19 virus Also this one about vaccines that immunize people from catching the coronavirus Then there is this one about copper as a weapon to combat this virus. This one could save some lives about the Red Cross. This one is a plasma cure link.